Music affects a person's speech, memory, attention, and they ability to convey vocal emotions

Title

Effect of Music on Memory

Broad Question

Does music effect memory on a test?
Which genre of music will help a person do better on a test, rock'n roll, rap, or silence?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that rap music will help a person get a better percent on a memory test than rock’n roll.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: Different genres of music.

Dependent Variable: Percentage that subjects get on a test.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

• the same room
• same approximate age of subjects
• same volume of music
• same iPod, same directions
• same seating
• same iHome
• same pencils
• same time of day
• same amount of time that subjects have to take the test
• same tests that subjects took

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

For the science fair experiment it is going to be tested which type of music will help a person do better on a test, rock'n roll, rap, or silence. There are going to be twelve subjects that are going to be testing on. Each subject is going to take three different memory tests. All three of the tests will have the same amount of things to remember, but will be different. They will take one test while listening to rap, one test while listening to rock'n roll, and one test listening to silence. Each of the tests are equally hard, so it is going to be tested on the percentage that the subjects get while listening to the different types of music that will be playing.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

The experiment is going to be set up in the conference room. Each subject will be seated accordingly depending on the matrix that was used. Each subject will take all three tests while listening to three different types of music. The answer will be figured out about which type of music will help a person do better on a test by the average score that all of the subjects get while each different type of music is playing.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
iPod Nano 2nd Generation	1	Home	Free
iHome	1	Home	Free
iPad 2nd generation	1	School	Free
Conference Room	1	School	Free
Blue W.B. Mason Paper	36	School	Free

Detailed Procedure

1. Recruit 12 people to be subjects for test, all 7th graders, six girls and six boys
2. Gather materials needed for test: iPod/iPad, iHome, empty room, __memory test__, stopwatch
3. Explain to subjects what to do during the test. __Explanation__ answer any questions that people have and clarify any misunderstandings that people may have.
4. First play the song Low
5. Distribute tests to all of the subjects and have the paper be upside down(look at matrix to know who gets what test during what song)
6. Turn the music on and tell the subjects “now turn your paper over and start to study”
7. After one minute and 30 seconds of the subjects studying say “flip” and have them fill out the back side
8. If song ends just replay the song.
9. Give the subjects two minutes to write down as many things as they remember on the test, as the music still plays
10. Once two minutes has gone by say “pencils down” and then collect everyone's test
11. Score the tests and find the percent of each test
12. Repeat the procedure three times, after playing the song Low, then play Holiday, and then silence.

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

Graphs

Photos

Subjects taking test while listening to rap

Subjects taking test while listening to Rock'n'roll

Results

People scored 66% on average when there was no music playing. People scored 51% on average when rock’n roll was playing. People scored 48% on average when rap was playing. It was a major difference between the different types of music, the range of averages was 18%.

Conclusion

This experiment was designed to test if music affected a person’s test score. The results show that it is better to take a memory test without playing music than with rock'n roll or rap. The average percentage that people got on a test when the were not listening to music was 66%. The average percentage when people were listening to to rap was 48%. The average percentage when people were listening to rock n roll was 51%.

Discussion

The experiment was designed to test which genre of music helped a person do better on a test, rap, rock’n roll or silence.The trials determined that some genres of music are much better to play while taking a test than others. It was hypothesized that rap music would do better than silence and rock'n roll. The results from the experiment proved that the hypothesis was wrong.

The average percentage when the subjects were listening to rap was 48%. The average percentage when the subjects were listening to rock’n roll was 51%. The best was when the subjects were listening to nothing, the average percentage of that was 66%. The hypothesis of the experiment was exactly the opposite of what the results ended up being. Surprisingly rap music being the worst music to listen to out of those three. There was not much of a difference of test scores when rap was playing and rock’n roll was playing. But there was a huge difference when there was no music playing and there was any music playing at all. The independent variables that were chosen somewhat made a difference, but the songs that were chosen were too similar and should have been different. Between playing music and not playing music there is a big effect, but between the two different types of music it is weak.

Based on the results on the experiment and the research that was done, people did poorly when music was playing because it was loud and not very calming. Since the music was very loud and obnoxious, and calming music helps people concentrate it must have been a distraction to the subjects who were taking the test making it hard for them to memorize what was on the test. During the experiment there were no major challenges or problems that happened during, or before the experimental process, the only minor challenge that was faced was that a timer was forgotten so the iPod was used for a timer, but that was the only challenge faced. The only technology that was needed was an iHome and iPod, but neither those are dangerous.This information gathered could help people and society in more that one way. It could help people if they are trying to study and memorize things, because they will know not to listen to rap or rock’n roll music. Also people would know not to listen to rap or rock’n roll during a test. Some new experiments that could be built off of this experiment are just the same question just different genres of music.

Background Research

• Soothing music relaxes the brain and helps people remember more things

• Music only affects short-term memory
• Music affects a person's speech, memory, attention, and they ability to convey vocal emotions
• When there is a song playing at a big moment in your life than you will easily identify that later in your life
• While driving if a person is listening to music with a fast beat it then the driver has 2 times the chance of crashing than someone listening to slow music

• Coldplay is the safest band to listen to while you are driving in a car

References

"Driving to a different beat." AXA Insurance Blog. 22 Mar. 2013 <http://blog.axa.ie/2011/05/driving-musi/>.

"The Impact of Music on Memory and Language." The Institute for PersonCentered Care Blog. 22 Mar. 2013 <http://wnyapccblog.com/2011/09/29/the-impact-of-music-on-memory-and-language/>.

"Music to drive by." Music Effects on Drivers and Driving Safety. 22 Mar. 2013 <http://www.directline.com/motor/driving-music.htm>.

"Title: The Effects of Music (Song) on Short-Term Memory Recall." Music and Speech Perception. 22 Mar. 2013 <http://musicandspeech.voices.wooster.edu/title-the-effects-of-music-song-on-short-term-memory-recall/>.

Abstract

The purpose of the experiment was to test which genre of music helps a person do better on a test, rock’n roll, rap, or silence. It was hypothesized that rap would do the best. 12 subjects each took three different memory tests, one for for each genre. The tests and genre were randomized for the subjects according to a previously designed matrix. All of the subjects were in the same room. The results ended up being that people did much better on when nothing at all was playing with an average score of 66%, the subjects did the worst when rap music was playing with an average score of 48%, and people did alright when rock’n roll was playing with an average score of 51%.